Nova Scotia community ready and willing to sell its water supply to oil project

Unsustainable project in all likelihood to move forward.

INVERNESS, NS, September 13, 2011: The community of Inverness's water supply is under threat because of oil drilling, reports Jonathan Arenson in the Chronicle Herald. Inverness Warden Duart MacAulay is supportive of the project, but water utility engineer Garrett Beaton asserts that the community could only provide the 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of water needed daily for the oil drilling operation for less than a year.

"The Council of Canadians is calling for more transparency and consultation from the Nova Scotia government and a Toronto company proposing to drill for oil in Inverness County.

In July, the provincial Environment Department approved PetroWorth Resources Inc.'s application to operate a conventional petroleum exploration well in West Lake Ainslie. The province's Energy Department will decide this fall if PetroWorth can begin drilling.

Thom Oommen, chairman of the Inverness County chapter of the Council of Canadians, said he believes the application will be approved "